


That's Just How It Is.

by QuietCelt



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Historical, F/M, Korean War, Ship Prompt, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-02
Updated: 2017-12-02
Packaged: 2019-02-09 09:23:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,809
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12884886
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QuietCelt/pseuds/QuietCelt
Summary: Tumblr Prompt/Ship Request - Starting with a kiss meant to be gentle, ending up in passion.Thank you to the person who requested this.Rico x ErwinModern (1950s) AU. Erwin is injured during the Korean Conflict and finds himself at a MASH unit under the care of Nurse Rico Brzenska.*Rico and Erwin are in their mid-twenties.*





	That's Just How It Is.

Erwin felt himself blush at the attention he was receiving from Rico’s mother and aunts. They fussed over him like a flock of mother hens. 

“Sweetheart? Would you like more tea? We can make some coffee if you want. Water? Oh…I think there is some apple juice. Would you like some apple juice?”

“Would you like this seat? Ah, it’s the best cushion…here take this seat. The sun won’t be in your eyes.”

“Would you like some help cutting your food? Oh…I knew we should have made soup! Here…let me help you with that.”

Erwin had smiled and let them. He could see where Rico had gotten her iron will from. And her goodness. Her mother, Klara - had written to him. Informing him that Rico was coming home. The war was over and Rico was coming home.  
\---  
Erwin Smith, born and raised in rural Michigan, had volunteered. His father had fought in the First World War. His two older brothers in the Second and he believed it was his turn. With his college degree, he was made an officer and given the task of leading men. It terrified him to have so many bright and eager faces looking at him for guidance and courage. He did his best to be brave for his men. He did his best to be as brave as they were and he wondered if it be enough.  
\---  
They were so brave in battle. In the battle that took so many of their lives. In the battle that took Erwin’s arm. Honestly - it had not hurt. Not at first. He had felt the heat of the explosion, the rending pressure of his arm being torn from his body. He had continued to scream orders at his men. Urging them forward and praying some made it out.

He had felt himself being lifted across the shoulders of Sgt. Zacharias and he had felt each step the towering man had taken as he ran. Now the pain came. Everything was fading. Doc Braun, the pleasant and burly medic for the squad had hastily placed a tourniquet on his arm before Sgt. Zacharias had begun his run.

“Hang in there sir,” Sgt. Zacharias urged him breathlessly. “Come on sir. Stay with me.” The pain surged and the darkness overcame Erwin.  
\---  
Erwin remained unconscious throughout the chopper ride to the MASH unit. He came to for a few moments as they were wheeling him into the operating tent. It was just long enough to hear someone - a surgeon - mumble, “Can’t save it. It's just barely still attached,” before a hand placed a mask over his face and he faded out again.  
\---  
He heard her first. It was a calm voice with a thick accent. Someplace in New York City. He could not place where exactly. Erwin cracked his eyes open and saw a woman - a tiny woman with silvery blond hair and a pair of military issue glasses - holding a chart and giving instructions to a few orderlies. They called her Lt. Brzenska. Nurse Brzenska. 

She had been the first to notice he was awake. She had been the one to tell him that he had lost his arm. He had known - but he still needed to hear it. His arm had been mangled in the explosion and there had been no way to save it. She told him, in a voice that was both authoritative and compassionate, that it had been his arm or his life.

Erwin understood. He had known a few men who had lost limbs in farm accidents. Still, he had found himself weeping softly one night - late at night when the other injured men were asleep. Eyes hid in his remaining hand…Erwin had wept.

Nurse Brzenska had been on duty that night, working by the soft glow of one desk lamp. She had heard him. Erwin had heard the other men had joked that she had hearing like a bat. That did appear to be true. And she was quiet. She was at Erwin’s bedside without him even noticing her approach.

She had pulled his hand away from his face and held it in her own small one while tears streamed down his cheeks. She had let him cry. Then she had asked him where he was from. Where he went to college. Asked him about his family.

“The way I see it, Captain Smith, is that you can cry about this...and crying is not a bad thing at all...but what’s done and done. So don’t cry too much. Your option is to deal with it as best you can. That's just how it is.” Her words were not cruel. Not callous. Honest and to the point.

Erwin has stared at her for a moment - deep blue eyes meeting pale ones. She was was right. What else was there to do? Living was the option.

“Would you like me to help you write a letter to your family? I’m sure they have been notified but you should let them know what happened and that you’re...” 

“Let them know I’m alright,” Erwin finished for her. Rico smiled. Erwin smiled back and wiped his eyes.  
\---  
Rico took the overnights quite a bit while Erwin was at the MASH. He would stay up to see her and talk to her. She would chide him and tell him to go to sleep. He would shake his head and ask her to read to him. Sometimes helped him write more letters. Or they just chatted softly. 

He learned her first name was Rico and she was from Brooklyn. Her parents were Polish immigrants and she had been a nurse at Coney Island Hospital before the conflict had started. Like him - it was a feeling of duty that had motivated her to volunteer. Her father had been against it - but Rico was strong-willed. And modern. Her two closest friends were fighting and she wanted to do her part. Rico did what she felt was right.

He told her about getting his degree in history and how he eventually wanted to get his Ph.D. and teach college. He told her about his father and his two brothers and about his mother. His father was a teacher and his mother had been before she married. He told Rico about the Michigan winters and how he would build snowmen taller than he was and how he would take his nieces and nephews sledding.

“We would go sledding in the park by my house,” she had said. “No giant hills like what you have though.”

“Well…if you ever find yourself in my neck of the woods we can go.”

She was silent for a moment then said, “I’ll hold you to that.”  
\---  
Erwin had been transferred without much notice. He was going to a military hospital for a little while and then back to the States. Erwin Smith’s war was over.

They did not get a chance to say goodbye properly. There had been a surge of wounded from another skirmish and Rico had been in the operating tent when Erwin and few other men were loaded up and moved out. He wanted to say goodbye to her. Properly.

As he had walked past the operating tent (he had insisted on walking) he strained to try and catch a glimpse of her. He couldn't see her in the forest of doctors and nurses. His heart fell a little.

Still, Erwin was a man of action - and he had her name and the MASH unit. He wrote to her. And she wrote back. 

His mother helped him at first. He would dictate to her and she would write in her neat handwriting. Then he would sign his name.

He worked hard to improve his own handwriting but found that his father’s typewriter suited him better. He began to type out his letters, and would still scribble “Erwin,” at the bottom.

How many letters did they write? Neither was sure. The letters were filled with jokes, fears, sadness, dreams, and one recipe for kopytka. 

Could you fall in love with someone through letters? Erwin thought the answer was perhaps yes. It was a start and that was just how it was.  
\---  
So here he was. The war was over and Rico was coming home and he was sitting in Mr. and Mrs. Brzenska’s kitchen waiting for her. It was a surprise. Her mother had written to him. Honestly, he was surprised and thrilled Rico had even mentioned him to her parents in her letters home. To receive the letter and the invitation to come and surprise Rico was had been beyond anything he could have hoped for. 

It was still a few days before Rico was to return, so they took him sightseeing around the city and he got to meet the rest of her family. Strong people who had worked for everything they had and who gave generously and warmly.  
\---  
“Oh…oh…I see them!” Rico’s aunt Aneta had called from the window.

“Hide the boy!”

Erwin had found himself shoved into the bedroom off the kitchen. The room Rico had shared with her sisters while she lived at home. Erwin heard the door open and then raised voices in a mix of English and Polish. 

“RICO!”

“Oh, we missed you!”

“So happy you’re back!”

“Rico! Oh, sweetheart. Come sit!”

Erwin waited for a few moments. No doubt they were getting Rico settled. She would have had a long journey.

There was a tap at the door and Klara popped her head in. “Come,” she said in a low voice. Erwin nodded and, feeling both excited and nervous, walked out into the kitchen.  
\---  
Rico had gasped and covered her mouth with both hands before rising from her chair and rushing to stand in front of him.

“Nurse Brzenska.”

“Captain Smith.”  
\---  
Erwin and Rico went for a walk later and chatted as easily as they had in Korea and as easily as they had written for all those months.

They held hands. Moved into a side street and stood looking at each other.

“Well…” Rico said as she adjusted her glasses, the corners of her mouth tilting up just slightly.

Erwin sighed and then leaned down, Rico moved in closer and their lips touched. He intended it to be a soft kiss. Instead, Erwin’s arm circled Rico’s waist and drew her tight to his body. She wrapped her arms around his neck. He lifted her with ease and the kissed deepened. One of Rico's hands made its way to tangle in his blond hair, knocking his hat off and Erwin's fingers dug gently into Rico's hip. 

Though the kiss ended, Erwin kept Rico lifted off the ground. “You should do that again,” Rico said. Erwin needed no second prompt as he pressed his lips to hers again.


End file.
